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<blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 9673057" data-attributes="member: 2013">We kind of had that in 1e. The introduction of &quot;specialty priests&quot; in 2e with access to spells that had formerly been exclusive to the Wizard started to blur those lines. In 3e, bards lost their own spell lists and joined the ranks of &quot;arcane casters&quot; and the druids lost theirs and got lumped in with &quot;divine casters.&quot; Homogenization where every caster can have access to every spell seems to have gotten worse over time.The thing is, the only hard-and-fast rule I can see that mechanically differentiates &quot;arcane&quot; from &quot;divine&quot; any more is &quot;arcane casters don't get healing magic&quot; (Simbul's Synostodweomer from 1e's The Magister notwithstanding).That said, there are some common effects (e.g., a light spell) that should probably be able to &quot;cross over&quot; and be mechanically repeatable. I think PF2E might be on the right path with having Arcane, Divine, Primal, and Occult power sources, but there's still way too much overlap in the spell lists, with most spells being on two or more lists.Of course, I generally prefer each magical tradition in my world to have a relatively small, curated spell list (here I am thinking on the order of 12 spells per level). Wizards can in theory learn any spell they are exposed to, but on level-up should be restricted to spells from their study tradition (2024 school, if you will). Other classes should have an even harder time &quot;going off the reservation&quot; - a sorcerer whose magic comes due to a red dragon ancestor, for example, shouldn't have access to cold magic at all. Priests get no offensive spells on their domain lists (this probably comes from my old-school divide of &quot;wizards don't heal, clerical damage is worse than wizard damage&quot; and yes I know people will produce counter-examples).In this sort of world, psionic disciplines would each in theory have their own very narrow spell list like everyone else, but something in me just rankles at psionics... so in every D&amp;D world I've ever DM'd, psionics simply aren't a thing (most half-races aren't a thing either, &quot;in this house, we obey the laws of genetics&quot;). They simply don't fit into my worlds' physics (plus magic) - their &quot;Grand Unified Theory of Everything&quot; - so they are omitted.I get others like Psionics. I'm not saying &quot;get rid of them.&quot; I'm simply saying, &quot;I have no use for them&quot; in my games the same way I have no use for Genasi, Tieflings, Dragonborn, etc. and the same way others have no use for &lt;Mechanic X&gt; and just don't use it (e.g., &quot;Alignment&quot;). There's room in the books/at the table for everyone to have stuff they like and stuff they have no use for, kind of like a buffet.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Sigil, post: 9673057, member: 2013"] We kind of had that in 1e. The introduction of "specialty priests" in 2e with access to spells that had formerly been exclusive to the Wizard started to blur those lines. In 3e, bards lost their own spell lists and joined the ranks of "arcane casters" and the druids lost theirs and got lumped in with "divine casters." Homogenization where every caster can have access to every spell seems to have gotten worse over time. The thing is, the only hard-and-fast rule I can see that mechanically differentiates "arcane" from "divine" any more is "arcane casters don't get healing magic" (Simbul's Synostodweomer from 1e's The Magister notwithstanding). That said, there are some common effects (e.g., a light spell) that should probably be able to "cross over" and be mechanically repeatable. I think PF2E might be on the right path with having Arcane, Divine, Primal, and Occult power sources, but there's still way too much overlap in the spell lists, with most spells being on two or more lists. Of course, I generally prefer each magical tradition in my world to have a relatively small, curated spell list (here I am thinking on the order of 12 spells per level). Wizards can in theory learn any spell they are exposed to, but on level-up should be restricted to spells from their study tradition (2024 school, if you will). Other classes should have an even harder time "going off the reservation" - a sorcerer whose magic comes due to a red dragon ancestor, for example, shouldn't have access to cold magic at all. Priests get no offensive spells on their domain lists (this probably comes from my old-school divide of "wizards don't heal, clerical damage is worse than wizard damage" and yes I know people will produce counter-examples). In this sort of world, psionic disciplines would each in theory have their own very narrow spell list like everyone else, but something in me just rankles at psionics... so in every D&D world I've ever DM'd, psionics simply aren't a thing (most half-races aren't a thing either, "in this house, we obey the laws of genetics"). They simply don't fit into my worlds' physics (plus magic) - their "Grand Unified Theory of Everything" - so they are omitted. I get others like Psionics. I'm not saying "get rid of them." I'm simply saying, "I have no use for them" in my games the same way I have no use for Genasi, Tieflings, Dragonborn, etc. and the same way others have no use for <Mechanic X> and just don't use it (e.g., "Alignment"). There's room in the books/at the table for everyone to have stuff they like and stuff they have no use for, kind of like a buffet. [/QUOTE]

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